What separates the best workplaces from everyone else?
We analyzed engagement data from 876 organizations and more than 236,000 employees to find out. The result is not a list of nice-to-haves. It is a precise, evidence-based map of what high-performing organizations do differently — and where to start.
What is a high-performing organization?
One that lands in the top 25% of the High Performance Index — a composite of six engagement categories, each scored on a 0–10 scale. Together they do not just measure how employees feel. They describe the conditions that make a culture work.
- Leadership
- Trust
- Psychological Safety
- Team Spirit
- Participation
- Personal Development
7 things high performers do differently
1
They invest broadly — not in one heroic dimension.
Across all six engagement categories, the gap between top-quartile organizations and the rest falls within a tight 12–14 point band. The best do not win by doubling down on a strength. They win by leaving nothing behind. Your weakest category is not a footnote — it is the ceiling.
2
Development is the universal bottleneck
Personal Development is the lowest-scoring category in 85.5% of organizations — and where the gap to high performers is widest.
3
Voice predicts performance
Team Spirit and genuine participation in decisions are the strongest independent predictors of high performance.
4
Institutional trust separates the best
Belief in direct managers is near-universal. What sets high performers apart is belief in senior leadership.
5
Engagement decays from day one
New hires are your most engaged employees. The promises made during recruitment erode fastest over tenure.
6
Safety is durable — but uneven
Psychological Safety holds steady across tenure. Yet women report significantly less of it than men.
7
Every generation differs
Gen Z leads on almost every engagement metric — yet trusts the institution less than any other generation.
Your psychological safety score might be hiding something
Behind the average scores, women report meaningfully less safety to speak up, challenge, and contribute. It is the largest gender gap of everything we measure. Our CHRO on what that costs your organization — and what to do about it.
Get the full picture
All seven findings, the full methodology, generational and industry breakdowns, and the five priority fixes — in one downloadable report.
